Firefly chef-owner Bradley Levy received a call and subsequent letter from City Attorney Dennis Herrera this week, alerting Levy that his Noe Valley staple has been found to be in compliance with the law and that their health care surcharges were not fraudulent. As Levy explained to Inside Scoop a few weeks ago, part of the reason Firefly implemented $1.25 surcharges in the past (they no longer do) was to compete on an even playing field with others. Though it’s probably safe to say that it would have been better to be removed from the situation from the start, this news from the city comes as a slight relief for Levy, if somewhat bittersweet.

“I always felt we’ve done our best to comply, but that didn’t mean we’d be necessarily be found innocent,” he says, noting that it was certainly a “drag” to see Firefly’s name on the initial list of 90+ restaurants being investigated by the City Attorney because they collected more surcharges than they spent on health care in 2011.

“We always tried our best to comply,” continues Levy. “I know the facts were the spelled out in the article but it didn’t give the strong impression that these restaurants weren’t found to do anything wrong yet.”

So far, Firefly is the only restaurant known to have been officially cleared so far, but if any other restaurateurs get similar letters in the future, do let us know (insidescoopsf@sfgate.com).

Also, there has been no word yet of any San Francisco restaurant taking up the City Attorney’s amnesty deal.